Finance Fridays
One 3/4 length sleeve shirt… $3.00
One pair of New York & Co Jeans… $14.99
One pair of Steve Madden boots… $5.00
One wool pea coat… $15.00
Stepped out looking better than my girlfriend who spent $300 on the same outfit…priceless!
Only in Savers, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Value Village and a host of other thrift stores can you find bargains like these. I just love it when my younger sisters tell me how cute I look. I love it even more when I see the look on their faces when they ask me how much I paid and where I got it.
I just smile and I tell ‘em, “The Goodie!” Yeah, that’s my code name for the Goodwill…shhhhh, don’t tell anybody, I don’t want my secret to get out.
Okay, if it’ll help you save hundreds of dollars I guess you can get in on my secret. When I need to spruce up my house and my wardrobe, those are the first places I go to. That’s where you’ll find the most value. Yeah, things maybe “gently used” but, if you are patient and take the time to look, you might find many things with original price tags that were donated without ever being worn. I’ve found tons of new children’s clothing with the tags still on them.
I’ve taken my friends and family shopping in these stores with me, and they often get frustrated because it seems so overwhelming since things aren’t organized as neatly as a department store. So they give up and usually end up missing out on a really good bargain.
Thrift shopping can seem chaotic if you don’t have a strategy. You don’t have to browse the whole entire store in one visit – that’s what my friends where trying to do. They were wandering aimlessly in and out of aisles with no real purpose.
When you shop with a purpose and a strategy, it helps reduce the frustration of wading through the super random miscellaneous type items you’ll find there.
Here’s what I do:
I shop for one type of item at a time. One day I might go just to look at shoes. Another day shirts, pants on another…household items…I think you get my point. When you do it that way, it’s easy to stay focused. When you only have to look through shirts and makes it easy. In the fitting room, it goes even quicker when you’re only trying on one type of item.
Don’t worry about trying piece together a whole outfit, go back another day for jeans and you’ll find the perfect pair.
You never know what you might find. Just last week my husband found a Roomba iRobot vacuum cleaner – it was brand new and in the box for $30. It came at just the right time, too since all this writing taps into my housecleaning time. Now I just turn that thing on and let it rip, it cleans the whole room without me lifting more than the finger that’s needed to push the “on” button.
So go for it, save your family’s money – you’ll get double or even triple the value for your money.
Are you afraid to venture into these store? Why? Are you worried about what people will think if they see you there? I see people I know all the time, we speak and it’s no problem because after all, they’re in the same store!
You might wonder, what if someone who knows me drives past and sees me going inside? So what? Are they going to pay your bills when you go bankrupt from trying to uphold appearances? I doubt it.
So what’s holding you back from shopping in these stores and saving a lot of money?
Do you have an amazing thrift store bargain you’d like to share? I’d love to here about amazing deals you’ve come across.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy these other Finance Friday posts:
How much do I tithe? How much do I offer my church?
Virtuous Women are Business Women
Consumptive Spending is Wasteful Spending
What Does H&M, Walmart and Trash have in common?
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Kiesha holds a Master of Arts in English, is a writing instructor and blog consultant.
Great suggestions Kiesha! We don’t do a lot of thrift store shopping but when my wife and I lost a bunch of weight 5 years ago it was very practical to buy our pants at Value Village. Part of our issue is that we don’t really have any thrift stores in our town. We have to go quite a ways (2.5 hrs) to find one.
.-= Kevin M.´s last blog ..Favourite Links Friday 2/19/10 =-.
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Hi Kevin,
I don’t know how thrifty it is anymore if you have to drive that far – so I totally understand
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Love this type shopping. There’s a store in town that has some of the best designer pieces imagineable…people never know the difference….only me and my wallet.
Stop by my blog. I’ve got something for you
.-= Roschelle´s last blog ..Mixed Messages for Olympic Athletes in Vancouver =-.
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You know, these are great suggestions. I have to be in the mood to sort through clothing at the thrift store, but my only two fitting pairs of work pants came from Goodwill. Other than Goodwill, we have a Great Deals, Good Stuff which is a little independent thrift store that supports an autism organization in the area. It’s pretty good as well.
However, my wife and I also love to shop at Kohl’s. While their prices can seem somewhat high, they have absolutely the best sales/clearances around. My wife got a pair of $50 jeans at 90% off. These sales are common there, as long as you go in looking for them.
.-= Steven Brady´s last blog ..February wrap up =-.
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Kiesha Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Hi Steve, you’re right about Kohl’s – they do have some pretty amazing deals. Thanks for reminding me!
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[...] one is hard for some people who are afraid to be spotted in a thrift store. (That’s a self-esteem issue – a completely different blog post.) But there are so many [...]
heyy. I am 10 years old (wierd right) and my friend shops at these REALLY EXPENSIZE PLACES, and so do i like justice, aero, hollister. but she told me that she got this really CUTE skirt and this thrift shop, so iwanted to go, but now im feeling wierd because this poor girl goes into the SAME one almost everyday, im afraid to get caught. IVE NEVER BEEN IN ONE BEFORE. Im really scared, we all know taht she is poor, but when other people find out, im in bad luck. right back please!!
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